Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMVs) as a Platform for Vaccination and Targeted Drug Delivery

Abstract

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are nanoparticles secreted from the bacterial cell surface. They range from 10 to 300 nm in size and possess similar surface characteristics to the cell from which they are derived. OMVs are a common phenomenon observed in Gram-negative bacteria. These spherical vesicles with their enclosed periplasmic content are flexible and pliable, therefore can be engineered for different purposes. They have recently gained popularity owing to their unique characteristics and have been explored for use in diverse biotechnological applications like adjuvants, vaccine development, drug delivery, and fluorescence tracking. OMVs contain pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on their bacterial outer membranes which imparts immunomodulatory characteristics to the OMVs. Their ability to suppress or elicit an immune response makes them attractive for vaccine development. OMVs have several unique advantages over conventional nanoparticles and notably the ability to protect the cargo in their lumen and heterologous protein presentation make them novel platforms for target drug delivery. In this chapter, we begin with the biogenesis of OMVs and their functions in bacterial virulence and pathogenesis, we present an overview of medical applications to exploit OMVs for therapeutic approaches, and we discuss the current discoveries of OMVs and engineering approaches for drug delivery, and we conclude with future perspectives.